General policies and principles for the Library's collections are stated in the General Collection Development Policy.

Purpose of the Collection

The primary purpose of the Slavic Studies collection is to support the needs of faculty and students in the Slavic Program of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies.  Collection parameters are described below.

Academic Department/Program Description

Emphasis in the Slavic Studies program is on Russian-language instruction, Slavic linguistics, Slavic literature (with emphasis on Russian literature), Russian-language film, and other aspects of Russian and Slavic culture.  To a lesser extent the collection supports the research and teaching needs of other academic programs with an emphasis on Russia, the former Soviet Union, and Central/Eastern Europe (the former Warsaw Pact countries).

Subject Parameters

Due to budgetary constraints, purchases from the Slavic fund primarily support the library needs of the Slavic Studies program at UCSB.  Materials are often purchased on other funds related to this subject area, including requests for Russian-language materials outside the focus defined in this policy.  For more information, see the Related Collection Development Policies section at the end of the policy.     

Scope

The scope of the Slavic Studies collection is defined below.

Subjects

The Slavic Studies collection is multidisciplinary, within the scope defined in this policy.

Geographical Coverage

The collection focuses primarily on Russia (the Russian Empire, Russia as a republic of the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation); and to a lesser extent on the Soviet Union and countries which were formerly Soviet republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan), and the countries in Central and Eastern Europe which were once part of the Warsaw Pact (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and to a lesser extent Albania).

Language

The primary languages of the collection are Russian and English.  Materials purchased in Russian include literature, films, language-learning materials, Russian linguistics, and materials about the modern culture of the Russian Federation.  English-language materials include new translations and materials originally published in English that relate to the collection emphases.  For other Slavic languages, materials collected emphasize language-learning, Slavic linguistics, and Slavic literature.  To a lesser extent materials are collected in minority languages of the Russian Federation and in other languages from the former Soviet Union and Eastern/Central Europe.

Chronological Limits/Period Coverage

Collecting emphasis for new acquisitions is on the post-Soviet period.  Materials are also collected that cover the Soviet period and pre-Soviet periods.

Publication Dates

Emphasis for purchasing is on materials published in the 21st century.  For literature, the emphasis is on contemporary literature and new translations of older works.

Types of Materials Collected

Materials collected include monographs, serials, collections of plays, indexes and abstracts, etc. Most literature collected is for adult audiences, but Russian-language books for children are also purchased.

Formats

Literature (in both Russian and English) is typically collected as print books, while scholarly books purchased on this fund will be purchased as electronic books whenever possible.  Russian-language books are purchased in print, rather than electronic format.

Systemwide and Other Resources

Research databases for Slavic Studies are usually purchased through the UC’s California Digital Library.  A listing of electronic resources for this subject area is available on the Slavic Studies research guide.  In addition, we rely on interlibrary loans of materials from other UC campuses with Slavic programs.

Related Collection Development Policies

Slavic Studies is a multi-disciplinary field.  Materials related to this subject are purchased on a variety of funds, depending on the subject matter.  The following collection development policies may be of interest:

Subject librarian: Annie Platoff
Policy Last Updated: June 2015